(click for DA version)

You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? You talkin' to me? Well, who else are you talkin' to? You talkin' to me? Well, I'm the only one here ...

For some reason owls have this great PR going. If they are depicted in a cartoony fashion they are most often portrayed as wise, elderly and all around nice folks. When in reality they are just as stone-hard killers as ever a shark or for that matter a dolphin. I can get why a dolphin gets a good rep - they at least seem to smile back at you. Not so an owl - it's actually a really spooky-looking bird. Clearly their PR department is top-notch.

Here I tried to depict an owl you don't want to mess with. Yes, that's a bird-scar. Apparently they really can squint their eyes like that, it's just that they normally keep their eyes wide open. Maybe this is mid-blink ... maybe it's just judging us ...

Painted entirely with Krita's default sketch brush, with some guidelines from an owl reference. Used GIMP for some tweaking. Total time some three hours or so.

Done also for a deviantart contest which has the theme "owls" this week.
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Griatch

PS: For those too young to know: The quote up top is from a famous movie. Look it up.

I love, Love, LOVE! the owl!
I simple love him!!
He's beautiful.

Ohhh this is nice Griatch.I love paintings of animals especially predator types.

Wonderful looking owl painting Griatch; you already know how much I like owls too. lol

The caption fits the owl perfectly

Nice work!

Well, Griatch, this is best image I have seen from you, your talent shines.

Simply gorgeous.

griatch: he looks more natural for this line than mister de niro!
mycket vackert, you did such a good job of the texture on the feathers and the many colour shifts in the shroud and his expression is fantastic. i'm not a great fan of bird paintings, they usually remind me of ornitology books and they never seem to give me a reason for why i should be looking at them. not so with your owl, brother! he sets my imagination going . looks like you're getting along well with krita, hope to see more of your work with that program!

(and about bird personalities and the owl's reputation: my ornitologist friend tells me the majority of great tits and blue tits die in battle, they're very aggressive species - and those birds have always seemed a bit like the essence of cuteness to me! in the whole indopak subcontinent, owls stand for extreme stupidity . calling someone "ullu" (owl) or "ullu ka patta" (child/son of an owl) is the same thing as calling them idiot or moron. this means a lot of western imagery causes misunderstandings or laughter in the indopak countries)

Very expressive owl, and yes it really look as an owl you don't want to mess with.

I don't know much about owl but once, in the Philippine i had a close encounter with a group of wild chickens, and they were really wild and smart

Wild chickens are not directly related with the cocks used for combat , are just chickens somehow escaped from long, or born by escaped chickens...no kidding are quite smart and even aggressive, one started to make a big mess close to the front door, distracting from the rest of the wild chicken command that entered silently from back, from the kitchen window, got to a pot of rice covered by a lid ,somehow push the lid away with the beaks and devoured most of the rise ...

I believe wild chickens may be a original subject ...obviously only the most rebellious, smart and lucky chickens get a chance to escape and survive in the wild ...when we entered the kitchen was a still moment as they were calculating if better escape or attack

they escaped but in sort of military order with at the rear guard the most aggressive facing us...let's hope that wild chicken will slow down their evolution speed ...too wild and smart chickens are scaring , chicken are supposed to be dumb

Very impressive Griatch

I love that owl. Yes, the owl is a vicious predator but also very beautiful. The raptors are all beautiful if vicious. Your painting of the owl is superb.

Quote: Perhaps the earliest known link between owls and wisdom is their association with Athena. The Greek goddess of wisdom is often depicted holding an owl.

I love owls. Not because I have any illusions about them but because they are very beautiful creatures. Nature can be cruel and you've brought out her harshness well in this gorgeous painting.

Thanks for the comments! The skething_speedpaint brush of Krita is really nice for these kind of quick studies, I was quite pleased with hot it came out.

@AnMal
Yes, lots of animals are really a lot more aggressive and wild than we usually credit them with (our sense of cutentess certainly has nothing to do with the animal's actual behaviour). Didn''t know the owls were considered stupid in the Orient, learning something new every day. So it seems the owl PR department still has more to do, eh?
@Photocomix
That's some rather chilling stories of wild chicken intelligence - as you say, they better not evolve too fast, sounds rather scary.
@Oregonian
Athena might well be a good reason for the wisdom-mythos around owls. In modern times Winnie the Poh is also a big influence (at least in the west).
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Griatch

I'm glad also a connessour of owls do like this, thanks for the comment!
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Griatch